Trike Smoking

[Rmitchell55]

Yesterday morning I decided that I would take a ride on my trike up in the mountains a little north of San Diego. Checked the oil in engine and trans. Trans. full engine just a tick below halfway. Take off and about 20 miles from home pulling a hill, it seemed that power was down a touch. Check the mirrors and it looked like I was smoking out the mosquitos. Blue smoke rolling out from both pipes, pulled off the roadway and had smoke billowing out of the air cleaner, oil running down the push rod tubes on the rear cylinder.

Left a spot of oil on the roadway about 12 inches in diameter and oil on he case between the engine and trans. Checked the oil level and had about a quarter inch on dipstick. engine was rattling pretty good when I shut it down. Call the wife and a tow truck. about and hour later the tow truck shows up but could not load from where I was parked. About a hundred feet from where I was a side road, so I started up the bike and it rattled like crazy for a couple of seconds and then smoothed out. pulled up the roadway and loaded the trike on the rollback. Got it home after a $185 towing charge. added about a quart of oil, started it again noisy for a couple of seconds and then smoothed out but still smoking badly pulled it into the garage.

Talked to a service writer at my dealer yesterday and told her about it and said that I had an after market air cleaner and a Power Vision tuner on it and she asked if I was on the Harley warranty or an extended warranty and told her an extended warranty, she said good they aren't as strict as Harley is about after market parts. Taking it into the shop later next week to be checked out.

Is there any way to tell from the power vision screen which is the original Harley map? I loaded a map yesterday that stated it was the map that was in the ECM when the power vision was married to the bike. Anyway I installed the Harley air cleaner and will be removing my Power vision before I take it in for service. The service writer told me that according to their computer that my original Harley warranty had been voided because it was reported that I had installed the power vision tuner.

Thanks

[GTK]

Changing map back to factory is really non productive. After market insurance can and will get history from dealer which will show your Power Vision. Just hope that they don't have a disclaimer on your policy. Good Luck

[ShapeShifter]

I hope things turn out favorably.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

I hope it all works out for you.

Having said that, I doubt seriously the power vision had anything to do with your current issue ... but ... who knows. That doesn't mean the "issuing agency" of your aftermarket warrantee won't use the power vision as a reason not to void your warrantee.

Maybe we should make this a "Sticky" so that members "see" what can happen when you change stuff before warrantee's are over. I suspect there are lots of owners that do mods thinking/hoping their warrantee will not be voided. History shows that just isn't so.

The other issue is that HD is making vehicles (from most reports the M8's aren't as guilty of of this) that simply are pathetic as stock. Poor mileage, poor power, and way too much heat, which makes new owners run to make mods to get the vehicle to the level they expected. I've done that on pretty much every bike/trike I've purchased that was a Harley (or any other manufacturer) ... and Yes ... I knew that I was playing with fire and that the mods I made probably caused the warrantee to be voided. It's just the risk you take, but, members need to know that they took the risk. In today's push for the bottom line, pretty much every manufacturer feels that once you mod something and use it as it wasn't intended, their liability is over.



Disclaimer: Don't want to be seen as bashing Harley here, so I will mention that Honda is guilty like Harley with their warrantees .... adding a hitch for instance voids it, I've also heard of and had one dealer tell me that they won't work on vehicles that have been converted to a trike ... now not all of the dealers are like that, just as not all Harley dealers are, but it does exist.

[Jack Klarich]

It sounds as if you have a classic case of engine oil sumping

Harley knows of this problem and has tech bulletins on it

Good luck and keep us posted

This is not the fault of the PV tuner

[rhino 2]

Devil Advocate here......

When i had my business every job that left my shop left with a lifetime guarantee ,

But if someone else monkeyed with it or changed it ...All bets off....

Rhetorical Question.......

You have a stock motorcycle in mint condition ...And let's just say you sell it to your neighbor.....And tell him Don't worry i guarantee there isn't a thing wrong with the bike...It's perfectly stock........A year later he comes back saying the engine burnt out and you have to pay to fix it... So you look at the bike and noticed that he added all kinds of Doo-Dads [That would void a factory warrantee] to the bike that weren't on the engine when you sold/guarantee it to him....What would you say to your neighbor.....

[Halfnormal]

This thread brings up a very interesting question for me....

I just purchased a used Harley from a dealer. I was offered the official Harley extended warranty and not a third party one which I thought would be better because it should be honored at all dealers.

So if the previous owner has done something that Harley deems "unofficial", will I be held responsible and therefore forfeit the warranty?

[FuzzyWuzHe]

This thread brings up a very interesting question for me....

I just purchased a used Harley from a dealer. I was offered the official Harley extended warranty and not a third party one which I thought would be better because it should be honored at all dealers.

So if the previous owner has done something that Harley deems "unofficial", will I be held responsible and therefore forfeit the warranty?

In short ... yep ... but, I would check with the dealer that you bought it from and see in HD has "Voided" it already ... and ask them is there anything that could void it installed already, maybe get that in writing. CYA is always smart. JMHO,

[ShapeShifter]

If you haven't done so, ask the Service Manager to get you a printed copy of the complete HD Service History for your Trike. I had them do this when I bought my pre-owned. As part of the purchase agreement, they also ordered me new (@ no cost) Trike and Boom Owners Manuals, since none were in the tour pak.

[ultrafxr]

This thread brings up a very interesting question for me....

I just purchased a used Harley from a dealer. I was offered the official Harley extended warranty and not a third party one which I thought would be better because it should be honored at all dealers.

So if the previous owner has done something that Harley deems "unofficial", will I be held responsible and therefore forfeit the warranty?

Not exactly sure what you mean by 'official Harley extended warranty' as it is actually administered by a third party, CNA Insurance. Harley dealers sell it but when it comes to claims under the ESP CNA controls everything - the inspection, approval and payment. So it would be up to CNA not the dealer and not Harley corporate to approve any claim. And it would be accepted at any Harley dealer if the claim is approved.

[Halfnormal]

Not exactly sure what you mean by 'official Harley extended warranty' as it is actually administered by a third party, CNA Insurance.

I was told this is an official Harley warranty provided by Harley and not a third party warranty. I have to look at the paperwork when I get home verify exactly what it is.

We all know that dealers do not lie!

[Halfnormal]

So looking at the paperwork, the top of the page says Harley-Davidson extended service plan with an official Harley logo. Fine print does say it is with CNA National Warranty Corp but all communications are with Harley-Davidson Service Center.

The paperwork further states to bring the bike to Harley-Davidson for the repairs and maintain all records of service.

Bottom line, they hold all the cards. Will hold out on crazy upgrades until the extended warranty expires.

[Rmitchell55]

Got my trike back from the dealer today and they suppose to have fixed it.They repalced a rocker cover gasket and the rear cyclinder pushrod tube "O" rings. Parts $36.00 and $600 labor. Cost me $50. How can you replace the pushrod tube 'O' ring without removing the push rod?

I pulled two of the plugs and they are very black and you can smell the burnt oil.

[ShapeShifter]

Glad you're up and running again......thankfully, plugs are inexpensive and an easy install.

[GTK]

Got my trike back from the dealer today and they suppose to have fixed it.They repalced a rocker cover gasket and the rear cyclinder pushrod tube "O" rings. Parts $36.00 and $600 labor. Cost me $50. How can you replace the pushrod tube 'O' ring without removing the push rod?

You can't,thats why they have a rocker cover gasket charged out on the repair order so that they could access and loosen rocker shaft to pull push rod to replace tube o'rings.

[Wmitz]

To the OP, if the bike isn’t running right, have the dealer do a leak down test, and a compression test, with printed/documented results. From your description it sounds like what they did is only a bandaid.

Change the plugs, note the oil level, ride the bike, don’t hold back. If your engine was smoking out the exhaust, there is excessive oil getting in the combustion chamber. Monitor your oil level, and plug color. If doesn’t run as good as it did, take it back to the dealer, don’t let them try to make excuses, be polite, but firm. I had a 18 tri that sumped 3 times, I know your pain.

[Mykneesbehurtin]

Sounds like a sumping issue,a leaking pushrod tube would not make the trike smoke out of the exhaust.If the oil ran down onto the exhaust i could understand smoke from the outside of the exhaust but not out of the exhaust.